Anna Victoria Klassen

I can no longer imagine how I lived my life before I met Anna Victoria Klassen. She has radically redefined my definition of "best friend."

Let me introduce you to Anna:
She is loud. Spontaneous. An Extrovert. A law breaker. Caring. Supportive. Brutally honest. Transparent. Beautiful. Humble. A bit obsessive at times. A God fearing woman. Radiant. Tan. Bob Marley lover.

We did not ask to be friends. I did not even know she existed until August 2008. We were just kind of thrown together, very much like the ingredients of a casserole; she was my college freshman roommate. If we had not been roommates, I would have never become friends with her because honestly we are complete opposites. Here I am, 18 years old and fresh out of high school, nervous about moving out and going to college and I get roomed with a girl like Anna?!? What?!?! What did I do to deserve such a punishment God?!?

I remember our first night together, as we lay in bed ready to sleep off the abundant (and quite overwhelming) information we absorbed all day during orientation Anna breaks the silence with the question: "What are you most scared off?"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! "You got to be crazy, I just met you and you want me to get all personal and deep?!?! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Of course I never said any of this, but I totally thought this and even screamed it in my head.

This was my first impression of Anna, I immediately began to fear my freshman experience. Little did I know that this would not be the first time Anna would have surprised me. About a month later (that's right, a month after we first met each other) Anna pulls a stunt that gets her in jail OVERNIGHT!! There I was sleeping in our dorm room alone because my roommate had a sleepover with some convicts. I got no sleep that night. The next morning I had to pick her up from jail (you can probably imagine the phone conversation I had with my parents that night and the next morning). I was so confused, why had God given me her as a roommate, especially at a Christian school!!!

But not only did Anna have a mugshot, she also decided to continue with her smoking addiction while at school (again, we are at a Christian college where smoking is not allowed). So Anna would go off campus each day and smoke cigarettes then return smelling of putrid smoke. Thankfully towards the end of the school year she transferred her addiction from cigarettes to exercise.

Despite Anna's slumber party in jail and her smoking, she was one of the most honest friends that I had ever known. At the beginning of the school year I shamefully judged her based on her actions, which proved extremely unfair on my end. But as the year progressed Anna continued to shock me with her caring and comforting nature, with her hopeful perspective on life, and with the way that she strived to become a better person.

She taught me how to love a person because of their imperfections. She taught me to be honest, open and vulnerable with friends. But most importantly, she showed me that the more I give and open up, the more I get. With each time that I shared a little bit of my precious and scared thoughts with her, the deeper and more profound that our friendship grew. Our friendship had blossomed so much that I found myself calling her my best friend, my most treasured friend. There was no day that I realized this, no tangible time that I can give you to when I figured this out, but instead it was a process, a process that led us on a roller coaster of emotions and growth.

So thank you Anna for showing me true friendship and teaching me so many important lessons of life and love. I look forward with anticipation and excitement to our future together and to watch how time will only strengthen our friendship.